What It Means to Fall
by logarhythm
Summary: A series of Ed-centric one-shots about all the different ways to 'fall'. Angst, EdWin fluff in some and many, many dictonary entries. Mixed genre. Human!Al [HIATUS]
1. To Fall Apart

**Heya~ Back with yet another story ^^; I know, I know, I should be updating other stories. But I just gte so many good ideas, and I can't resist writing them~**

**Anyway, this is a series of Ed-centric one-shots. :3 Because I love Ed. ^w^**

**Although this is really angsty... T.T (Please forgive me, Ed!)**

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><p><strong>to fall apart <strong>_vb_ **1** to break owing to long use or poor construction **2** to become disorganized and ineffective.

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><p><em>Nii-san.<em>

Al!

_Nii-san!_

Al, wait, come back! I'm here! Come back!

_NII-SAN!_

Ed awoke, the cold sweat dripping onto the dirty-white bed sheets beneath him. His breathing was quick, although it came in painful rasps too heavy for his oxygen-deprived lungs to keep up with. It felt like he'd been holding his breath the entire time. Maybe he had. Dancing black spots trickled into the edges of his vision, but he tried his best to push them away. Once he had successfully dragged in enough winter air to keep him conscious, he began to concentrate on his surroundings, as the disturbing dream had knocked him off the road of reality yet again.

He was lying on his side, in a bed he was familiar with. His right shoulder seemed to be in rather a lot of pain, he realised after the dreamy bout of numbness had worn off, so he presumed he was lying on his right side with his automail digging into the skin that had still not completely healed and he guessed never would.

His legs were curled up slightly, his knees being drawn up to around hip height though not making contact with his body. He was clutching onto his pillow with a death grip, as if he was afraid he would die if he let it go. It took him a further few minutes to realise the suffocating feeling he'd had when he first woke up and the reason he couldn't see anything might be connected to the fact his face was buried deep into the creases of the white material.

He slowly withdrew his scarred face from the cunning perpetrator, and sighed, his breath shaking as the realisation of reality hit him.

He was here, at 5:47am, in his military dorm.

Alone.

_Nii-san..._

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><p><strong>Rather short, wasn't it? ^^; Oh well. I'll try and make the next one longer. No guarantees, mind you.<strong>

**Poor Ed... I had to go and kill off Al in the very first one-shot, didn't I? T.T Never mind, I'll perform human transmutation and resurrect Al for the next one :)**

**Review~? I wanna know if people like it or not T.T Otherwise I might lose my will to live... (I mean, c'mon, at least add it to Favourite Stories if you like it!)**


	2. To Fall in Love

**Here I am!** **:D I like writing one-shots since I'm no good at coming up with plot lines, and since this is a series of one-shots, I find it easy and fun to write :D (Especailly this one, for some reason. I think I just find angst easy to write (because I'm sadistic like that).)**

**An EdWin, as someone requested! (I can't remember who ^^;;) **So without further ado, here's the second one! :D****

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><p><strong>to fall in love <strong>_vb_ to harbour feelings of romantic love towards a person.

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><p>"ED!"<p>

The heavy wrench made contact with the back of his head before he could even register who had just called out his name.

"_What the hell do you think you're doing?_"

The boy in question froze, his left hand half submerged in what should've been his right arm, discarded gears, wires and metal plates strewn around the work surface in front of him. "Um... Nothing?" he whispered, almost too afraid to speak in the presence of the raging sixteen-year-old behind him.

"THIS DOESN'T LOOK LIKE NOTHING TO ME!"

Ed could feel the sweat dripping from the back of his neck into his golden hair shimmering in the artificial light, and he awkwardly turned his head around to face Winry, a terrified smile plastered onto his face. "R-really? Heh heh."

"_ED!_"

Fifteen minutes later, both teens were lazing on the uncomfortable but welcomed wooden chairs at the side of the workshop, panting at the unexpected exercise.

"So," Winry begins after a few minutes of thoughtful silence, "what on earth were you _doing_ messing with my automail like that?"

"A-ah… Yeah, you see… I sort of…" Ed finished his sentence with a rushed mumble, too quiet for Winry to properly understand.

"Sort of _what?_" she snapped, turning her head to face Ed sprawled out in the chair next to her, her face scrunched up from annoyance.

"A _FIGHT_! I GOT INTO A _FIGHT_, ALL RIGHT?"

Winry's shock was evident on her face, and Ed swiftly made a move to correct the outburst. "I-I… Sorry, I'm just… Ugh." Ed slumped in his seat, his tanned face falling into his awaiting palms.

Winry's face contorted into one of sympathy. This time around, she just couldn't bring herself to be mad at him. Indulging in his temporary silence and inability to see what she was doing, she decided to take the opportunity to properly inspect him for damage.

The most obvious was, of course, his half-dismantled arm. (It, however, even in that mangled state (which she could now see was only partly due to Ed's poor mechanical skills), was still fully-functioning, and she couldn't help but feel a pang of pride at the realisation.) But upon closer inspection, Ed's loose black vest revealed the new, worryingly deep incision on the back of his left arm, running from the top of his shoulder to just above his elbow, only healed enough to stop most of the bleeding and untreated. Winry scowled. He should at least put some antiseptic cream on wounds like that. She glanced around the room in hope of finding something to treat and bandage the massive slash. After a few seconds however, a swish of gold flashed in the corner of her eye, and her eyes were immediately drawn to it. Her eyes softened when she realised it was just Ed readjusting his position - now, although still bent over at quite an angle in the chair, his chin was resting on his flesh fist, his eyes staring ahead, obviously lost deep in whatever crazy thought processes his mind ran through. Winry couldn't resist a small smile - this always happened. Even as a kid, he was constantly zoning out; Al always reckoned it was something to do with how a certain spider web looked like a transmutation circle, or how the grains of a certain plank of wood resembled the wheat fields in Resembool - and _fwish_, he was out of it, totally immersed in memories of one thing or another. That was one thing Winry admired in Ed - his ability to just _concentrate_, and not let anything at all bother him. Her smile spread a little wider. When everything was accounted for, Ed was, after all, still only a little kid. She suddenly had the inexplicable urge to cry - she hurriedly blinked back the threatening tears, only to refocus on _Ed's_ tears.

… Hang on, Ed's _tears_?

Winry burst out of her thinking bubble, surprised… no, outright _shocked_ at the fact that Ed was crying. _Ed_ was _crying_.

If there was one thing Winry knew for certain, it was that _Ed didn't cry_.

She sat and stared for a minute or two, realizing that one of two things had just happened: either Ed had forgotten her presence entirely, or (the slightly less plausible option, but the option much preferred) he had finally decided to trust her.

God, she hoped it was the second one.

She sat there, momentarily helpless, her usually busy workshop utterly silent but for the steady _drip drip drip_ of salt water on concrete floor.

Unable to find any words to comfort him - he always hated being comforted, anyway - she decided that maybe, just this once, actions might speak louder than words.

She silently leant over to the shaking figure beside her, wrapping her exposed arms around broad shoulders and repressing a shiver when her upper arm touched automail.

Winry felt his body jerk at her movement, but Ed quickly leant into her embrace, leaning sideways until his nose had lodged itself between her collarbone and her neck.

Nuzzling her own face into Ed's glimmering golden hair she'd always loved so much, she finally felt her own tears escape. At the sound of her sobs, she could feel Ed's arms slowly wrap around her skinny waist, and the moisture on her neck increase.

After some time - neither knew how long - Ed rustled in her hold, bringing his head up to level with Winry's. They stared for a while, Winry with such massive sadness at Ed's puffy cheeks and red-rimmed eyes, and Ed with severe regret.

Edward chuckled humourlessly, though honestly. "And here I said the next time I'd make you cry, it would be with happiness."

Winry choked back another tear, and hesitated before whispering, her voice rough from crying, "It still could be."

Edward, catching her drift, widened his eyes ever so slightly, before smiling and tightening his grip on her waist. He leaned in, eyes closed, and brushed his lips ever so gently against her shaking ones. She inhaled sharply before pulling Ed closer, never wanting to lose him, and crushing her lips against his, her eyes forced closed by the fresh tears now flowing down her pink cheeks.

Ed responded, feeling like Winry had just thrown her heaviest, pointiest wrench at his heart. He laughed into the kiss at the thought, his tears mixing with hers as the two tried in vain to get so close their bodies would merge - because each knew, deep inside, they could never possibly survive without the other.

And it tore their hearts apart.

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><p><strong>Awwww! T.T And this was supposed to be a <em>happy<em> one! Seriously, I have 13 chapters planned out for this, and only 3 of them are in any way happy... -.-;;;**

**This is the first time I've written proper romance... So sorry if it mega sucks... O.O;;**

**Tell me whether it was good in a review? I honestly have no clue O.O;;;**

**(Oh my god, that rhymed! XD)**


	3. To Fall to Your Death

**Hey everyone~ Did ya miss me? ;)**

**I've decided form now on I'm gonna put the genre at the start of every chapter. ;)**

**Genre: Tragedy~**

**The theme song for this would probably be _Nuvole Bianche_ by Ludovico Einaudi, if you wanna read this while listening to it. ;)**

**(I don't have to put a disclaimer, do I?)**

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><p><strong>to <strong>**fall ****to ****your ****death **_vb_ to descend by the force of gravity from a higher to a lower place, the impact of which is strong enough to kill.

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><p><em>SNAP.<em>

I flinched at the sound of breaking twig, swiftly turning around to face whatever was following me. _Dammit, __this __is __why __I __don__'__t __like __patrolling __forests __at __night._

I refrained from saying anything, unlike the normal person, in case it alerted my - attacker? stalker? - to my presence.

"I know you're there, Elric." _Shit._ He knew I was there._If__ I __die __tonight, __Mustang, __I__'__m __blaming __it __on __you._

"What's it to you?" I replied cautiously, not giving away any information, still glancing around me in circles, eyes trained on any slight rustle or movement that would send me bolting in the opposite direction.

The stranger laughed. "A lot, to say the least. We've been _looking _for you. Do you know how hard it is to find someone who doesn't have a home? _Very_."

I snorted. "Well sorry for being a moving target. I promise I'll stay still next time."

The stranger laughed again, but this time it seemed... almost _menacing_. "There won't be a next time."

Before I could even register what the words meant, a cold blade was at my throat and a hand was at my lower back, making sure I couldn't move. I cursed mentally. This guy was _fast_.

I began to squirm minutely, thinking how I could buy myself a few minutes to gradually wriggle free.

"Now now, Elric, don't escape on me." The... _thing_ staring down at me was easily a foot taller than me (_dammit!_) and his build reminded me of Armstrong. He stared down at me from behind his black hooded cape, lime-green eyes and slitted pupils _eating_ me up, _swallowing_ whatever they could before he literally ate me.

"Escape? It seems you mistake me for a chicken." I grinned dangerously, my eyes flashing red at the opportunity for a fight that wasn't as easy as shit.

"Nice to know my foe isn't a coward - the struggling ones are always more entertaining..." the creature hissed, leaning into my face, forked tongue brushing my cheek.

"Not in my lifetime," I murmured, and before the stranger had time to react, I leapt backwards, kicking him in the side of the kneecap, temporarily rendering him immobile. "Eat that, you fucker!" I yell as I dart away into the thick foliage, ignoring the nettle stings on my flesh arm and the thorns tearing the dirtied material.

I heard a primordial growl from behind me, and I increased my speed. _This __guy __actually __has __a __fighting __chance __of __beating __me,_ I realised, and as the notion sunk in I felt my heart plummet to my stomach. _No, __more __than __a __fighting __chance __- __a _good _chance. _A loud twig cracked roughly three metres behind me. _Oh __god._

"Gotcha."

I don't remember much after that - only jumping out of the way of grasping claws, and forgetting that the woods lay at the cliff's edge. I guess it was almost relaxing - feeling the wind in my hair as the force against me tugged my hair tie off, feeling the ripples of my shirt against my back, staring at the star-specked sky for the few moments I had left to myself.

Of course, I wouldn't just put that time to waste, either. Even if my message couldn't reach them, I knew I had to say _something_. I remember it was something along the lines of, "I'm sorry."

I know, cliché, right? But I felt it was necessary. After all, I was just the 'one' in the 'all', wasn't I? Everything dies at some point. My time just came sooner than most.

I just wish I could have done something more. Shown Al one more smile, given Winry one last hug, thrown one more insult at the Colonel's face.

I guess not everything has a happy ending after all.

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><p>"<em>I<em>_'__m __sorry._"

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><p><strong>How was it? I think I like this one, even if I <em>did<em> have to kill off Ed... T.T**

**(By the way, I'm trying to make my A/Ns shorter. Did you notice?)**


	4. The Season of Fall

**What random shit is this? And for god's sake, it's from a _leaf's_ POV. *Facepalm***

**Genre: Brotherly? (Is that a genre?)**

**Disclaimer~**

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><p><strong>fall <strong>_n_ (Chiefly US) autumn.

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><p>A whisper-soft breath escaped his lips as the boy exhaled the smell of freshly-oiled metal, trading it for the fresher, cooler scent of the nature surrounding him. A feather-light breeze shook a golden leaf from its branch, ushering it towards his head and it settled there, undisturbed. The head on which it had landed belonged to someone far too worn down to worry about stray leaves, no matter how much they matched the colour of his hair, and so the leaf went unnoticed as its resting place stirred in fretful thoughts. It was obvious from the harsh clouds of smoky air being puffed from his mouth that he was under much stress, and the pink flush on his cheeks was probably not only from the cold, if the furious scrunch of the boy's brow and the wide frown was anything to go by. The golden-haired boy shifted again, crossing and uncrossing his legs, almost subconsciously as his mind reeled at the pressure on his mismatched shoulders.<p>

The leaf tumbled to the ground amid its brothers and sisters as the golden head rose, two hands stuffed in the pockets of the long red coat it was wearing. The stranger began to pace along the leaf-spattered ground, a low growl slithering out of his throat unbidden as he thought of things he would rather not.

A while later, someone with hair just as golden appeared in the clearing, a multitude of leaves peppering his far shorter hair. He smiled comfortingly at the other boy and chanced a few kind words. The shorter replied in a rough tenor that sounded like it had been worn down over the years by far too much shouting.

The taller boy - though his round face and large eyes gave him away as the younger - drew the other into a warm embrace, laughing at something the older boy had said. They stayed that way for a moment before they drew back and the younger proceeded to lead the boy with the golden plait out of the clearing, a wide smile on his face.

And for the first time since entering that clearing, the older boy smiled too.


End file.
